Per Curiam
Plaintiff client appealed from a Civil Court order granting defendant attorney’s motion seeking dismissal of the complaint. She sued for “breach of agreement/malpractice” arguing that defendant’s negligence and failure to timely perform caused her to lose a potential lease. Defendant sued for unpaid legal fees and a judgment was entered against plaintiff for defendant’s legal services. Plaintiff appealed from the order granting defendant dismissal of the complaint on res judicata grounds. The panel noted that Civil Court Act §1808 provided that a small claims judgment would not be deemed an adjudication of any fact at issue or found there in any other action or court. It stated while defendant’s legal services, which were at issue here, were also at issue in the small claims suit resulting in a judgment to defendant, that small claims judgment was not an adjudication of any fact at issue, and had no issue preclusion effect. The panel ruled that prior small claims judgment did not bar independent adjudication of the issues raised by plaintiff in this complaint. It found the Civil Court erred in dismissing the instant action on res judicata grounds based on the small claims suit, reversing the order and remitting the matter for determination of undecided issues of defendant’s motion.
